Kim Dexter Hendren (born February 6, 1938) is an American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He served as a Democratic and Republican member for the 6th and 9th districts of the Arkansas Senate. Hendren also served a member of the 1st and 92nd districts of the Arkansas House of Representatives. Hendren was born in

Gravette, Arkansas Gravette is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The population is 3,547 according to the 2020 census. The population was 2,325 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Northwest Arkansas region. Geography Gravette is located in north ...

, and attended

Gravette High School Gravette High School is a comprehensive public high school located in the fringe town of Gravette, Arkansas, United States. The school provides secondary education for students in grades 8 through 12. It is one of nine public high schools in Ben ...

. He then attended at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

, where he earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information a ...

in 1960. Hendren worked as an engineer. He established and owned the company Hendren Plastics Inc. He was also a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

in the Arkansas Air National Guard. In 1979 Hendren was elected for the 6th district of the

Arkansas Senate The Arkansas State Senate is the upper branch of the Arkansas General Assembly. The Senate consists of 35 members, each representing a district with about 83,000 people. Service in the state legislature is part-time, and many state senators have ...

, serving until 1983. In 2001, he was elected for the 1st district of the Arkansas House of Representatives, succeeding his son

Jim Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

. He was then a Republican politician. In 2003, Hendren was elected for the 9th district of the Arkansas Senate, where he served until 2013. In 2015, he was elected for the 92nd district of the Arkansas House of Representatives. In 2019, he was succeeded by his daughter Gayla. In his career, Hendren had served as the minority leader of the Arkansas Senate.

References

1938 births Living people People from Gravette, Arkansas Arkansas state senators Members of the Arkansas House of Representatives Arkansas Democrats Arkansas Republicans 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians University of Arkansas alumni American engineers 20th-century American engineers Hutchinson family Businesspeople from Arkansas {{Arkansas-politician-stub